I’m pretty disappointed in Slashdot today…  Generally speaking, the folks on there are somewhat technically savvy.  They’re usually rather literate and capable of logical thought.  They don’t generally buy into government propaganda and fear-mongering.  Today though, a good number of them are running around like scared children at the thought of Wikileaks releasing an early atomic bomb diagram.

That’s right folks – somebody gave Wikileaks a diagram of the first atomic weapon.  And Wikileaks posted it, on the Internet, for the whole world to see.  What’s worse though, is that folks are upset and scared about this.  As if some terrorist somewhere is going to hop on over to Wikileaks and say “Hot damn!  That’s what was missing!  Now I can build my own atomic bomb!”

To start with, this diagram isn’t especially new or interesting.  Information about these early nuclear weapons has been widely available for a very, very long time.  I remember first learning about how the Fat Man worked in my high school science class.  I’ve also seen plenty of television programs that go into plenty of detail.  There’s also plenty of other websites out there with information.  The fact of the matter is that most of the scientific research that went into building those first few atomic weapons has been in the public domain for years.

So, if the only thing keeping us from nuclear annihilation was a lack of documentation, we’d all be dust by now.

Realistically, it takes a lot more than simple documentation to build a nuclear weapon.  You need to be able to produce craptons of nuclear material – not easy or cheap.  You need to be able to manufacture fairly precise components and machinery – also not easy or cheap.  Under ideal conditions it would still take you many years and billions of dollars to build a nuclear weapon from scratch.

Plus, these plans are for a very large and very inefficient nuclear bomb.  It was dropped from a giant freaking bomber plane.  This isn’t the kind of thing you could sneak through airport security or stick on top of a missile.  And while it is a nuclear bomb, and it would produce a very big explosion, you could probably do just as well with a pile of conventional explosives.  Compared to modern nuclear weapons this thing is a joke.

Honestly, if you wanted to nuke somebody you’d be much better off if you went shopping for one of the many nuclear warheads that went missing when the USSR fell apart.

And yet there are still folks on Slashdot who are screaming about how irresponsible it was for Wikileaks to post this information.

Posted on March 16 at 1:46 PM